I thought petco was supposed to be expensive?

[OliveFish05]

I have been absolutely shocked by the good deals and savings at Petco. I tend to watch for a good deal for a while, and with setting up this 40 gallon tank I’ve found so many. I got the tank half off at their sale, and added a silly little plant to bring my order up to $52 (the tank was $49.99), so I got a $20 gift card! They upped the gift card to $25 for any orders above $50 now, so I plan to buy my air pump, glass top for the 20 gallon, and some other small accessories like airline tubing as well as a few things my sisters needed for the hedgehogs so I can get an additional $25 gift card. But then I have $45 worth of gift cards and I saved $50 on the tank. My point is, i never realized they had such good deals!

 

[Slaphppy7]

I have been absolutely shocked by the good deals and savings at Petco. I tend to watch for a good deal for a while, and with setting up this 40 gallon tank I’ve found so many. I got the tank half off at their sale, and added a silly little plant to bring my order up to $52 (the tank was $49.99), so I got a $20 gift card! They upped the gift card to $25 for any orders above $50 now, so I plan to buy my air pump, glass top for the 20 gallon, and some other small accessories like airline tubing as well as a few things my sisters needed for the hedgehogs so I can get an additional $25 gift card. But then I have $45 worth of gift cards and I saved $50 on the tank. My point is, i never realized they had such good deals!

Good deals on equipment...just avoid their livestock

My wife signed up for some kind of savings program there, a membership of some type...she says it's well worth the $ for the savings benefits

 

[OliveFish05]

Good deals on equipment...just avoid their livestock

Yep. The Pygmy Cories there are half the price of the ones at my LFS, so I always hesitate like “hmmmmmmmm maybe I should get more Pygmy Cories here instead....” then I look at their tanks and wonder why I ever considered it

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

PetCo and their ilk have flourished because they can undercut the LFS on equipment and meds and such like, due to economies of scale and, in some cases, making their own stuff.
They get expensive when they sell you fish that you kill through ignorance and then go back to buy some more...which you kill through ignorance and then go back and buy some more...etc.. They'll also be quite happy to sell you meds and so-called conditioners that you don't need.

The closest we have to PetCo and PetsMart in the UK is Pets at Home.

 

[Bruce Leyland-Jones]

On the subject of their livestock, I'm now quite happy to buy from there if they have something I want, but I do have access to other shops that don't suffer the same turnover of nets into tanks.
I'll also buy their plants, which are Tropica, so sealed and safe and food.

 

[Rocky998]

I have been absolutely shocked by the good deals and savings at Petco. I tend to watch for a good deal for a while, and with setting up this 40 gallon tank I’ve found so many. I got the tank half off at their sale, and added a silly little plant to bring my order up to $52 (the tank was $49.99), so I got a $20 gift card! They upped the gift card to $25 for any orders above $50 now, so I plan to buy my air pump, glass top for the 20 gallon, and some other small accessories like airline tubing as well as a few things my sisters needed for the hedgehogs so I can get an additional $25 gift card. But then I have $45 worth of gift cards and I saved $50 on the tank. My point is, i never realized they had such good deals!

Lucky you, smh... I have to spend almost $60 on a 20H and the 40g here are like $180... Closest petco is an hour and a half drive and my parents dont care so yah.

 

[I Like Rare Fish]

Noobs. I dropped 400 (like an idiot) on a 55g tank with a crappy filter and more. I just got a 340l tank, filter, and stand all for 200. Just gotta wait for the nice deal to hit you!

 

[Rocky998]

Or look on facebook marketplace! Jeez the good deals are abound on there!

 

[Sgooosh]

Yeah it is expensice but with the sheer amount of deals its ok

There is one overpowered deal at petsmart
All the plants are like half off, since they dont want the plants any more
There are healthies among the dead ones

 

[OliveFish05]

Noobs. I dropped 400 (like an idiot) on a 55g tank with a crappy filter and more. I just got a 340l tank, filter, and stand all for 200. Just gotta wait for the nice deal to hit you!

My entire 55 gallon tank setup cost me $300, i got the tank, stand, glass tops, 2 AquaClear 50 filters, heaters, decent light. All brand new.

sounds like a great deal on the 340 liter! I assume you got it used?

 

[OliveFish05]

Lucky you, smh... I have to spend almost $60 on a 20H and the 40g here are like $180... Closest petco is an hour and a half drive and my parents dont care so yah.

Ouch!

 

[Anonymous Fox]

I read the title as "I thought plecos were supposed to be expensive" I'm like "Yes they are wdym???"
Yeah, I get all my tanks from Petco. they sell 20-gallon tanks for only. like, $20 USD

 

[Rocky998]

I read the title as "I thought plecos were supposed to be expensive" I'm like "Yes they are wdym???"
Yeah, I get all my tanks from Petco. they sell 20-gallon tanks for only. like, $20 USD

I did the same thing LOL

 

[AbbeysDad]

The chain pet stores have buying power for huge discounts that they can pass along and still make a nice profit. Besides selling tanks cheap is like cheap printers (with expensive ink cartridges) or inexpensive razors (with expensive blades) - the real money is in the consumables!!!

So on average, a (perhaps new) hobbyist gets a good deal on a glass box...but s/he is gonna need some gravel, a heater, a filter, maybe an air pump and tubing, some decor - plants, wood, rocks... AND then there's fish!
SO THERE"S WHERE THERE'S MONEY - the glass box is merely the shaft to the gold mine!

 

[Donya]

There can be a reasonable amount of variation in the fish department from one individual store to another with chains, including whether the particular store even sells live fish if I'm remembering a particular one particular PetCo correctly that I used to frequent - although that was years back, so maybe they all do now. I'm glad the one near where I now live has a passion for the marine side, since I'm in a dead zone for other specialty shops (nearest one is at least a 2hr drive).

Also, obligatory moderator note just to ensure everyone is aware of it: be careful when reporting negative experiences with stores, because it can easily become precarious from a legal standpoint for the site. The reviews part of the forum has a rule regarding chain stores because of that, and the same thing applies to regular threads if the discussion trends in a review-like direction: "When dealing with chain stores review only a single location. Do not review the entire chain." https://www.fishforums.net/threads/rules-format-to-use-for-all-reviews.420359/